Title
Approving the Interim Use Permit for a temporary emergency housing facility at 2329 Hendon Street (Stub Hall at Luther Seminary).
Body
WHEREAS, on March 13, 2020, Governor Walz issued Executive Order 20-01 “Declaring a Peacetime Emergency and Coordinating Minnesota’s Strategy to Protect Minnesotans from COVID-19” pursuant to Minn. Stat. § 12.31, Subd. 2, which was subsequently extended, most recently to December 14, 2020 by Executive Order 20-97; and
WHEREAS, COVID-19 is a pandemic illness and possess a risk to the health, welfare, and safety of the public; and
WHEREAS, the United States Government and the state of Minnesota have issued numerous guidelines, recommendations and orders intended to slow the spread of COVID-19; and
WHEREAS, persons without a place of residence (the “unsheltered”) with COVID-19, or exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19, and lacking a place of residence, are particularly vulnerable thereby creating a housing emergency for the unsheltered; and
WHEREAS, social distancing recommendations employed to slow the spread of COVID-19 require more space to safely provide emergency housing for the unsheltered; and
WHEREAS, an emergency housing facility is a conditional use permitted in a T1 zoning district under Leg. Code § 66.321; and
WHEREAS, the Ramsey County Department of Health desires to use a site commonly known as Stub Hall, 2329 Hendon Street, a dormitory building on the site legally described as LUTHER NORTHWESTERN,ADDITION THAT PT OF LOT 1 BLK 1 LYING NELY AND SELY OF FOL DESC L BEG AT SLY COR OF SD LOT 1 SD COR IS COMMON WITH SW COR OF LOT 2 BLK 1 TH N 32 DEG 23 MIN 03 SEC E ASSUMED BEARING ALONG NWLY L OF SD LOT 2 AND NELY EXT A DIST OF 510.63 (hereinafter, “Stub Hall”) for temporary emergency housing for the unsheltered; and
WHEREAS, the Council of the City of Saint Paul (“Council”) finds that the peacetime emergency created by the COVID-19 virus and the rapidly developing need to provide some means to house the unsheltered with COVID-19 or exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19 or otherwise impacted by COVID-19 makes it imprudent for the County of Ramsey (“County”) or the City of Saint Paul (“City”) to follow the procedures for processing and approving a conditional use permit application required under Leg. Code § 66.321 for an emergency housing facility at Stub Hall; and
WHEREAS, Minn. Stat. § 462.3597 authorizes a governing body to permit an interim use if the body finds that the interim use application meets each of the following requirements:
(1) The use conforms to the zoning regulations;
(2) The date or event that will terminate the use can be identified with certainty;
(3) Permission of the use will not impose additional costs on the public if it is necessary for the public to take the property in the future; and
(4) The user agrees to any conditions that the governing body deems appropriate for permission of the use; and
WHEREAS, on November 4, 2020, the County, pursuant to Minn. Stat. § 462.3597 and Leg. Code § 66.221, duly applied to the City for an interim use permit for the purpose of providing temporary emergency housing at Stub Hall so that unsheltered persons may have safe housing during the COVID-19 peace time emergency; and
WHEREAS, on December 2, 2020, pursuant to the requirements for interim use permits under Minn. Stats. § 462.3597 and § 462.357, Subd.3, a public hearing was duly conducted before the Council; and
WHEREAS, the Council, having considered all the facts and testimony produced at the said public hearing including the report and recommendations from department of planning and economic development (“PED”) staff under PED File No. 20-091-134, dated November 18, 2020, as set forth therein, hereby approves the County’s interim use permit application and adopts as its own and incorporates them herein by reference, the said staff findings in support of the Council’s decision; NOW, THEREFORE,
BE IT RESOLVED, based upon the report of staff in PED File No. 20-091-134, and the findings therein, the County’s application for an interim use permit for temporary emergency housing at Stub Hall is hereby approved, subject to the following conditions:
1. The use will terminate within 90 days after the City of Saint Paul and State of Minnesota states of emergency pertaining to COVID-19 have expired.
2. Occupancy must be approved by the Department of Safety and Inspections (DSI). Occupancy must abide by and comply with and standards or conditions imposed by DSI and that those same standards and conditions are incorporated by reference as standards/conditions of the interim use permit.
AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the interim use permit application fee be waived; and
BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that a copy of this Interim Use Permit Resolution be immediately mailed to the applicant, Ramsey County, and to the City’s Zoning Administrator, Planning Administrator and Building Official.